Tag: YA (Page 4 of 6)

Take Me On by Katie McGarry

June 6, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I was provided with a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Champion kickboxer Haley swore she’d never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can’t stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she’d stay away from. Yet he won’t last five seconds in the ring without her help.

West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping her-fighting for her-is a shot at redemption. Especially since it’s his fault his family is falling apart. He can’t change the past, but maybe he can change Haley’s future.

Hayley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they’ll face their darkest fears and discover love is worth fighting for.

*Spoilers for previous books in the series follow. Be ye warned.*

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I quite liked West in the previous book in the series, Crash Into You. West was good looking, a little cocky and therefore not perfect, but he also tries hard, in his own way, to help his family. Unfortunately, he feels his actions always lead to disaster and he perceives himself to be a failure. In fact, given that he was always told he was conceived in order to be a bone marrow match for his then-dying sister Colleen (he was not a match), he feels he has been a failure from birth. He resents his dad, who spends almost all of his time working and most all of what attention is left over is for West’s mum. West wants his attention sure, but he also wants his dad to step up and be a more active dad. Then maybe West won’t feel like it’s up to him to fix things for everyone. Then maybe West won’t muck up as much. West is impulsive (which often gets him into trouble) and, after he gets into yet another fight at school, he is finally expelled. His dad, fed up with the drama from West, confronts him, they have a nasty fight and West is thrown out.

Red at Night by Katie McGarry

April 24, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’m a fan of Katie McGarry’s books. This book is available free from Harlequin or Amazon.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She’s the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He’s a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella’s favorite refuge…the local cemetery.

Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah’s friends. Once he’s sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won’t have time for her anymore. Too bad she’s already fallen for him.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Inspired by Nikki Berta who runs the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation which provides free shoes to children in Nevada (and they get to choose their own shoes from a wide selection), this story is part of Harlequin’s More Than Words project.

Both Stella and Jonah are in their senior year of high school Stella lives with the sometime-girlfriend of her father. Her father is mostly absent and her and Joss (the sometime-girlfriend) are not remotely wealthy. Joss tells Stella not to dream or hope because people like them are destined to stay where they are and college and getting out from under is for other people.

Review at Dear Author

April 17, 2014 / Kaetrin

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith. I don’t read all that much YA and I had mixed feelings about this one. There is some simply beautiful writing however – click the link to see my thoughts.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, narrated by Emma Powell

March 8, 2014 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’ve had this one on my TBL for a little while and decided to sneak it in between review books.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea, still under the influence of her father Leck, a violent psychopath who altered minds. Her advisers want to pardon evildoers and forget everything, but she sees the past holds fast. Two thieves, who only steal what has been stolen, hold the truth and change her life. One, his Grace skill unidentified, has a key to her heart.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Oh, so many things to say!

I’ll start with the narration because I’m far less conflicted about that. It was superb. Emma Powell doesn’t have/use a super deep voice for her male characters, but she manages to imbue each with enough difference and enough about what makes them that particular character (which is in part due to the writing which provides those details) that almost all are easily differentiated. I found it hard to identify Rood from Runimood (apologies if I have the spelling wrong – I only listened and haven’t seen these names in print). Perhaps Prince Sky was hard to differentiate from Po – but Sky was in the story for such a short time, it wasn’t a problem. Saf has a Lienid accent (which Powell does as Welsh) and is similar to Po but so different a character, it was easy to tell them apart. Katsa has a more brash tone than Bitterblue and the elderly characters have a convincing wobble to their voices. I noticed subtleties when listening that enhanced the experience beyond what it could have been just reading. Tones that were perfect but which I wouldn’t have thought to give certain words or phrases. The subtext was also clearly delivered by the emotions in the narration.

Ahoy! Thar be spoilers! Read on at own risk.

I’m At AudioGals…

January 24, 2014 / Kaetrin

with an audiobook review of Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles, narrated by Amy Rubinate and Kirby Heybourne. The narration was so good by this pair – I didn’t notice some of the flaws in the story when I was listening.

That said, the story was very entertaining and I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

Kaetrin’s 2013 Favourites

December 24, 2013 / Kaetrin

Up until 16 December, I read a total of 251 books for the year. Of those, 145 were books published in 2013. Last year, my 2012/all-reading ratio was a lot lower. Good for the newly released books, not so good for the books languishing on Mr. TBR.

Out of all the books I read, only 27 were rated 5 stars, but 144 were rated 4 stars. I’d have to say that’s a pretty good reading year.

Of the books released in 2013, my favourites were (click on the pics to see my reviews):